Global food security is already under threat since Russia halted an agreement allowing Ukraine to export wheat and the El Nino weather phenomenon hampers rice production.

An El Nino is a natural, temporary and occasional warming of part of the Pacific Ocean that shifts global weather patterns, and climate change is making them stronger.

Senegal will turn to other trading partners like Thailand or Cambodia for imports, though the West African country is not “far from being self-sufficient” on rice, with over half of its demand grown locally, Agriculture Ministry spokesperson Mamadou Aïcha Ndiaye said.

The Philippines was carefully managing water in anticipation of less rain amid the El Nino when Typhoon Doksuri battered its northern rice-producing region, damaging $32 million worth of rice crops — an estimated 22% of its annual production.

The restrictions will take offline nearly half the country’s usual rice exports this year, said Ashok Gulati of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relation.

AP reporters Krutika Pathi in New Delhi; Zane Irwin in Dakar, Senegal; Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok; and Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, contributed.

The original article contains 1,028 words, the summary contains 183 words. Saved 82%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!